Each time I think of the ongoing issues of climate change like global warming, changing rainfall patterns, and issues of floods in states like Jigawa, Delta, Rivers, and the like, I shake inside. However, I do not know if I am perturbed because I was a Geography student and know the impact climate change can have on Nigeria, or if I am perturbed because as an average individual in Nigeria, I understand the severity of the matter. In the end, I cannot say.
When I saw the reports on the record-breaking warm ocean temperature set this August. My ‘local’ mind almost discarded the issue as I thought it did not really concern Nigeria. But my informed mind said something different.
Nigeria is a coastal country as we share borders with the Atlantic Ocean. However, even if we were a landlocked country, the rising ocean temperatures still affect us. Oceans are overall climate regulators meaning they help absorb some amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and make our atmosphere less hot than it would have been without them. If these oceans get warmer, their absorption of the heat-increasing gas in the atmosphere will be reduced and weather patterns as well as regional climates will be definitely altered. So the News does matter to us in Nigeria. After all, we have farms that need the right balance of rainfall and sunlight to produce yield and rising sea levels mean more floods.
With the ever-present issue of poverty and hunger cascading across Nigeria, security issues, the fuel subsidy removal, and the resultant increase in transport and food prices. It seems the last thing on anyone’s mind in Nigeria is climate change. Some will say “Na person wey don chop dey worry about weather.” The only persons that climate change seems to bother (apart from the few proclaimed Nigerian environmental activists) are farmers and even they are not particularly bothered about climate change but are troubled about how the delayed rainfall or inconsistent rainfall is affecting their farms. A good example is my mother who runs a small but massively cared-for farm in Ajaokuta, a small town in Kogi state, Nigeria.
Though rain has been frequent in the Southern and western parts of Nigeria and to some extent, FCT Abuja, the rain has been infrequent in several areas of the middle belt; significantly affecting the quality and quantity of their farm yield. According to her, the sins of the people in the land were too much. I don’t think I have heard her attribute anything to climate change. This is so with many other Nigerians (not exempting the high class).
Nigerians are no fools, I do not believe we seek the destruction of the planet but with pressing issues like families struggling to meet daily requirements like food, shelter, and healthcare, climate change seems insignificant to be considered. The irony of it all though is that climate change affects food, shelter, and health.
What then should be done? Addressing matters of poverty and employment or addressing Nigerians’ ignorance on the issue of climate change?
I argue that more than average Nigerians do, it’s the big guys like Aliko Dangote trying to build refineries and industrial moguls, who burn fossil fuels that contribute more to climate change.
Because poverty-related and political issues are more visible and immediate, they will always take more attention than the case with Western countries. However, it will be folly to not understand the severity of climate change and tackle it. Climate change requires longer-term planning and the systemic change I believe governmental and high-placed individuals have more role to play in.
I am not saying we all don’t have roles to play but it’s people that have fruits to eat that can save some to replant. The most low-income individuals can do is watch their lifestyle and plant more trees. However, effective ways to tackle climate change require significant capital to implement.
The use of non-biodegradable products like black leather bags should be abolished and replaced with biodegradable materials like paper bags. Our energy source has to move from fossil fuel to more renewable and greener forms of energy. But I rarely see the government dwell on that.
It would be unfair and unreasonable to say Nigerians do not care about climate change, but we largely do not.
